homeward bound …

 

We packed our clothes …  cleaned the holiday cottage … loaded the car … and started the journey home.  The skies opened … torrential rain fell … it thundered … it lightened … but luckily for us there were only two mornings of rain during the whole week.

the rooftops of Norwich

Norwich castle

We had contingency plans in case of rain … one day we visited Norwich … the castle, and by the time we had spent a couple of hours in the museum … the rain had stopped. The rest of the week was fine and pleasant … walks were taken … delicious meals were eaten … and we spent as little time indoors as possible.

the quay at Wells

husband practising with his new camera

Wiveton Hall cafe

Peony border in the walled garden at Wiveton

a peaceful scene at the Cley Bird Reserve

By the time we reached home … a couple of hours later … the sun came out and it was hot.  After unloading the car I went straight out into the garden …  eager to see what surprises it would hold.  It looked like a jungle.  The aquilegia had all gone to seed, but the roses and delphiniums were blooming.  The slugs hadn’t had a field day with the newly planted seedlings and had left the lettuce alone …  they had had a nibble here and there on the beans … but nothing too drastic.  Everything seemed to have doubled in size whilst we were away … the rain had done some damage … plants needed staking, tying back … and a lot of deadheading.

a new rose this year – labelled Golden Showers which turned out to be more like Cream Showers!

bees, bees, bees, bees, bees – loving this geranium

delphiniums waited till we returned to bloom

foxglove

sugar snap peas

I began almost immediately not even stopping to unpack … by the time the evening came it was almost as if we had never been away … so engrossed was I in getting the garden back into shape.  By the end  I had filled the ‘wheelie bin’ with weeds and plants that had snapped with the weight of the rain.

allium

greenfinches

blackbird and sparrow

goldfinch

It seemed strange to look out and see a burgeoning garden full of life instead of a small flowerless courtyard … to hear the garden birds instead of sea gulls.  It is nice to go away to be in a different environment for a few days … to see the sea and the dunes and find different places to visit … but it is equally nice to return home to the familiar … for what would one be without the other.

I felt  strangely reluctant to start blogging again  … after not being connected to the internet for a week … no  thinking what my next post will be about … no reading of other people’s posts.

But as I sat down to write this post  it felt like I was writing to old friends … people I feel I have got to know a little over the last few years … people I would undoubtedly miss without regular updates of what is happening in their world … so here I am … and it looks like I am probably here to stay … for the time being anyway.  I guess some habits are hard to break.

‘Til the next time – have a good week.